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Season 2 of Pui Pui Molcar is a cute but lacklustre follow-up to a bizarre(ly) excellent first season.

Almost the entire season takes place in a "driving school", which is part of why it doesn't feel as interesting, as the set doesn't change and the situations begin to feel too-familiar - however, it's really only the first six episodes that drag slightly, and later episodes change up the formula by utilising the set in interesting ways or having episodes focused around the driving school in a different location (such as the water episode).

But this doesn't mean it's not worth watching. Just like the first ... season, it's got excellent (and adorable!) sound design, eye-catching and fluid animation, and there are enough hilarious/heartwarming/ridiculous moments to keep your attention. (Predictably, at least one moment made me seriously teary-eyed, which is absurd for a kid's show about guinea pig cars).

If you liked the first season you'll still like this one, and since the entire season is just over thirty minutes long, there's no good reason not to binge it.

A surreal anime that seems to rely on its "cuteness" factor to begin, before quickly becoming something of a masterpiece (in its own way).

I was underwhelmed by the first little episode, then after it got weirder and progressively funnier/more referential/even cuter/more wholesome as each episode went on, I was hooked and binged them all. It really does have amazing sound design (it shook me to learn afterwards that all the guinea pig noises are real, that makes it EVEN cuter), the stop motion is incredibly fluid and effective, and the little stories are absolutely adorable. I even teared up a couple of times, which ... to say the least is unexpected for a kids show about guinea pigs that are also cars.

Definitely a recommend if you like cute anime or kids media (heck, even if you don't because some of these episodes are weirdly dark and amazing even for adults!), plus the whole season is only half an hour long. I know I'll be running to get myself a Potato plushie as soon as I finish writing this :3

What can I say about this masterpiece that people haven't already said?

After finally watching this, I can see why people say it's one of the greatest anime of all time. The voice cast is incredible, the art is great, the music is amazing, and the story is among the best I've seen in any anime.

It wrapped up a little quickly for my tastes considering how brilliant the pacing is in the first 20 or so episodes, but I realise that's the consequence of adapting multiple endings of a visual novel.

Finally, Mamoru Miyano is a god at voice acting, and Okabe is one ... of the best-acted and best-written characters I've ever seen in any anime.

Haruhi is great and I'm kicking myself that I didn't watch it sooner.

This is one of those series I tried to watch back when I first got into anime as a teen - but back then, I realise, there were many things that I missed about the show. I had no idea about the different orders to watch, for starters, and I remember being bored and dropping it partway through the second episode. God, I was a dumb teen.

As a much older, somewhat wiser person now, I have to say that Haruhi is straight-up wonderful. I decided to watch it in broadcast order ... for a change, and loved the challenge of putting the story together.

The story, I have to say, is excellent. It's a very clever take on a typical school slice of life. The problems they get into are funny. The show never felt like it was dragging (in fact I had to force myself to sleep multiple times because I just wanted to keep watching). And the main story arc, when it kicks in, is just so clever and - even now, having watched it over a decade later - still so refreshing in a world of typical slice of life anime.

There's also just so many absolutely iconic moments that had my jaw on the floor at times. The extremely famous scene where Haruhi performs at the school arts festival, for example, or the crisply animated closing dance, for example. The art and music and story is so consistent and so good at times that it almost had me cheering. The music, in particular, was fantastic throughout. There's very few parts where it intruded on dialogue during scenes, the use of classical music in particular was just absolutely wonderful, and when the music soars in during important scenes, it suits it so perfectly.

I'm not a typical dub watcher, but I highly recommend the English dub purely for Crispin Freeman absolutely hitting it out of the park as Kyon. He's hilarious and spot-on and, compared to the Japanese voice for me, just channels the character so perfectly.

If you haven't seen it, Haruhi is ultimately a huge recommend for me. It's funny, charming, witty, emotional, intriguing, and will have you laughing, gasping, and cheering in your seat.